Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska:

Feast day : 05 October

“You are the secretary of My mercy; I have chosen you for that office in this and the next life.” Our Lord Jesus to St. Faustina (Diary, para 1605) Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, Apostle of The Divine Mercy. She was a Polish Roman Catholic nun who lived during the period 1905-1938. In the 1930s, through a series of visions to Saint Faustina, Our Lord Jesus revealed to the world, to trust upon His mercy and also gave a new form to the practice of this devotion. Her diary notes on these extraordinary revelations were published as “The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska’ and brings hope to even the most wretched sinner. On her canonization, Pope John Paul II said, "The message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. Jesus said to Sr. Faustina one day: 'Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to the Divine Mercy.'”

Early life:

Saint Faustina was born into a poor but religious peasant family in the village of Glogowiec, Poland in the year 1905. She was baptised as “Helena” and was known to be a sensitive, caring and pious child. As early as the age of seven, she recognised her calling to religious life. Her parents were poor and could barely afford to give her an education. She received only a primary schooling of three years. At the age of fourteen she left her home to earn her own livelihood and support her parents financially. She worked as a domestic help in the nearby cities of Aleksandrow and Lodz. During these years, she often felt her calling to a religious life but her parents opposed and dissuaded her from it. In obedience to them, she suppressed her calling but was reproached by Jesus for doing so. In her memoirs she writes about a vision that Jesus gave of His sufferings and said “How long shall I put up with you and how long will you keep putting Me off?”. Full of remorse, without seeking the consent of her parents, she began reaching out to convents in Warsaw. Finally, at the age of twenty she joined the convent of the Congregation of Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw and took the name “Sr. Maria Faustina”. A few days later she had a temptation to join another convent where she could spend more time in prayer but was again guided by Our Lord who appeared to her showing His wounded and tortured face saying “It is you who will cause Me this pain if you leave this convent. It is to this place that I called you and nowhere else, and it is here that I have prepared many graces for you.” Accordingly, she continued in the same congregation and completed her novitiate in Carcow and five years later made her perpetual vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. During her life in the convent, Saint Faustina was assigned duties of a cook, gardener and doorkeeper which she attended to with utmost diligence. She served at many of the Congregation’s houses in Poland.

Spiritual struggles:

During these years, she underwent severe interior trials through which Our Lord enriched her with abundant graces and mystical gifts. She experienced the spiritual Dark Night which lasted till the end of her Novitiate. She was blessed with the gift of contemplation, a deep knowledge of the mystery of the mercy of God, with visions, revelations, the hidden stigmata, the gift of prophecy, gift of reading human souls and also the rare gift of mystical espousal. It was during the last four years of her life, that Our Lord gave her the mission of directing the whole world to seek refuge in His Mercy. In response to her calling, she offered herself to the Lord for sinners especially hardened sinners who have lost trust in the mercy of God.

Apostle of the Divine Mercy:

In the first year of her novitiate, Our Lord appeared to Saint Faustina on 22 February 1931 and asked her “Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: ‘Jesus, I Trust in You’ (Diary,47). I want this image to be solemnly blessed on the first Sunday after Easter; that Sunday is to be the Feast of Mercy.” (Diary, 49). Following this, through a series of visions, Our Lord assigned to her the great mission of proclaiming the message of His mercy and asked her to record these extraordinary revelations. Her notes of the messages and visions she received from Jesus are now published as 'The Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska'. This journal reveals her spiritual struggles, her encounters with Jesus and the new form of devotion to the Divine Mercy with its five main elements - 'The Feast of The Divine Mercy', the 'Image of the Merciful Jesus', 'The Chaplet of The Divine Mercy', 'The Hour of Mercy' and 'Spreading the honor of The Divine Mercy' . Read more about the devotion at Divine Mercy Devotion

In 1933 after taking her perpetual vows she met Father Michal Sopocko who became her confessor and supporter in completing her God given mission. With his assistance, by June 1934, she had the Divine Mercy image of Jesus painted according to the revelation given to her. On Good Friday of the following year, Jesus revealed that He wanted the image to be venerated publicly. Accordingly on 26 April 1935, a week after Good Friday, Fr. Sopocko delivered his first sermon on the Divine Mercy and two days later the image was again placed before the public during Holy Mass on 28 April 1935.

On September 13th-14th 1935, Jesus gave her the Chaplet of Divine Mercy as a prayer of atonement and for the appeasement of God’s wrath on sinners. Jesus also expressed His desire to have a congregation entirely dedicated to proclaiming the Divine Mercy devotion. According, in November 1935, Saint Faustina wrote the rules for a new contemplative religious congregation devoted to the propagation of Divine Mercy. She also visited a house in Vilnus that she had seen in her vision as the first convent of the new congregation. However, though she informed her superiors and the Archbishop about the Lord’s desire to have a new congregation, she did not receive the necessary support to have it implemented. In her disappointment, Jesus strengthened her saying, “ "My Daughter, do whatever is within your power to spread devotion to My Divine Mercy, I will make up for what you lack.”

In 1936, Fr. Sopocko wrote the first brochure on the Divine Mercy devotion with the Divine Mercy image on its cover. On Good Friday in 1937, Jesus revealed to Saint Faustina the Novena of Divine Mercy. The following July in 1937, the first holy cards with the Divine Mercy image were printed. Throughout 1937, progress was made in promoting the Divine Mercy, and in November 1937, a pamphlet was published with the title Christ, King of Mercy. The pamphlet included the Chaplet, the Novena and the Litany of the Divine Mercy. The Divine Mercy image appeared on the cover, with the signature "Jesus I Trust in You".

Death & Sainthood:

As the devotion to the Divine Mercy began to gain momentum, Saint Faustina became increasingly ill and suffered from Tuberculosis. She continued to receive revelations and spent much time in prayer and in reciting the Chaplet for the conversion of sinners. Having seen most of her mission implemented, she succumbed to her illness on October 5, 1938 at the young age of 33 years. She was laid to rest in the convent’s cemetery in Cracow. Later during her beatification process, her sacred remains were transferred to the convent chapel which is today the Basilica of Divine Mercy.

After her death, in 1942, during the war, Fr. Sopocko and others went into hiding to escape the Nazis. During this two year period, Fr. Sopocko began preparations for establishing the new religious congregation based on the messages written by Saint Faustina. He wrote the constitution for the Congregation of the Sisters of the Divine Mercy. By 1951, there were more than 150 Divine Mercy centers in Poland. On 24 June 1956, Pope Pius XII blessed an Image of the Divine Mercy in Rome, the only one blessed by a Pope before the Second Vatican Council. In 1955, under Pope Pius XII, the Bishop of Gorzów founded a religious order, the Congregation of the Most Holy Lord Jesus Christ, Merciful Redeemer, to spread devotion to the Divine Mercy. Under both Pope Pius XI and Pope Pius XII, writings on devotion to the Divine Mercy were given imprimaturs by many bishops, making it an approved devotion. During the papacy of Pope Pius XII, Vatican Radio broadcast several times about the Divine Mercy. However from 1959, for a period of almost two decades, the Holy Office placed restrictions on the circulation of the images and writings on Divine Mercy devotions. But after necessary investigations were made, the order was reversed in 1978.

Saint Faustina was beatified on 18 April 1993 and canonised on 30 April 2000 by Pope John Paul II. During her canonization Pope John Paul II said, "The message she brought is the appropriate and incisive answer that God wanted to offer to the questions and expectations of human beings in our time, marked by terrible tragedies. Jesus said to Sr. Faustina one day: 'Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to the Divine Mercy.” Pope John Paul II also announced “The Second Sunday of Easter from now on throughout the Church will be called ‘Divine Mercy Sunday’”.